Soto Grado's alarming precedents with Barça.
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Beyond the 'ghost goal' by Lamine Yamal that was not awarded, the referee from Avila from the Riojan Committee already unhinged Koeman and Xavi in two matches in Getafe, in one of them with Iglesias Villanueva in the VAR, as in this Sunday's Clásico.
César Soto Grado, born in Candeleda (Ávila) but assigned to the Rioja Committee, will referee this Sunday's Real Madrid-Barça Clásico (4:15 p.m., DAZN). The match has some unpleasant precedents for the Blaugrana side. The most recent, and the most high-profile due to it being the other Clásico he officiated, was Lamine Yamal's ghost goal, which didn't make it onto the scoreboard at the Santiago Bernabéu despite his shot going over the line. Real Madrid won 3-2 on Matchday 32 of the 2023-24 La Liga season. But there's more.
On Matchday 6 of the 2020-21 La Liga season, Ronald Koeman's Barça lost 1-0 at Getafe due to a harsh penalty awarded by De Jong on Djené, which was awarded by Jaime Mata. But the worst part was the exasperating permissiveness of Nyom's harsh actions, especially his takedown of Messi on the edge of the box, which resulted in a hat trick of infractions: a kick, a push, and a blow to the face with his elbow. The referee, who was perfectly positioned, called the foul, but not only did he show a textbook red card, but the only yellow card was for Sergi Roberto for protesting in the 40th minute. It was similar to that tackle that even LaLiga posted on its website, so when he was booked in the 73rd minute, he had to rectify the decision because he wasn't sent off. "I don't like to talk about the referee. If you watch the game, if you see the fouls and the cards, everyone can come to their own conclusion," Koeman lamented.
He also starred in Getafe on the opening matchday of the 2023-24 La Liga season: 0-0. Lacking authority for 115 minutes (90 minutes plus 25 minutes of added time between the two halves because everything happened), Soto Grado, with total indifference from the VAR, once again allowed Bordalás's soldiers to hunt down Barcelona, with the classic off-the-ball obstructions that ended with several players in pain. He saw nothing of the evident underground and low-class play at home until Raphinha, tired of receiving, turned around. And then the Ávila-La Rioja native regained his sight and sent him off in the 43rd minute. He equalized when he couldn't forgive any more and showed Mata a second yellow card in the 63rd minute for a rugby tackle. And in the 70th minute, he sent off Xavi, who called for a red card from Duarte for a foul on Abde as the last man. And the mess came in the eternal added time: Soto Grado didn't whistle a penalty in favor of Barça for an unquestionable kick from Iglesias to Araujo inside the box. The VAR called him, and he went to the monitor to review it. Everyone was sure he would whistle it when they all conjured up a previous, totally unintentional handball, if it was a handball, by Gavi. Xavi exploded afterward: "The handball called on Gavi was fabricated. The referees told us they would only whistle very clear handballs, and Gavi's wasn't one, and they whistled it. I didn't like the meeting." By the way, the VAR was the Galician Iglesias Villanueva, the same one from this Sunday.
In that same 2023-24 La Liga season, Barça drew 2-2 at Granada but were unable to complete the comeback as Soto Grado ruled out a Joao Félix goal near the end for a positional offside by Ferran, at the near post, but with the ball flying two metres over his head. "He doesn't interfere with anything because the ball goes two metres over Ferran. The fourth official first told me that they disallowed it because Ferran touched it, but then it turned out they didn't. Who is Ferran interfering with? It's clear that he interferes, but who if the ball wasn't going there and it doesn't bother anyone. We've been caught out again," lamented Xavi.
With Hansi Flick already on the bench, his performance in Matchday 4 of the 2024-25 La Liga season was controversial. Barça won 2-1 at Vallecas, but after failing to award a penalty on Olmo at the start of the second half, Soto Grado ruled out a Lewandowski comeback goal due to a previous foul by Koundé on Chavarría: the Frenchman stepped on the toe of the Vallecano's boot during a struggle between the two for the ball. In subsequent matches, goals were not ruled out for similar actions.
Iglesias Villanueva, by the way, wasn't the only protagonist in the VAR report in that 0-0 draw at Getafe. He also did nothing to prompt Balearic native Busquets Ferrer to award two alarming fouls on Lamine Yamal by Sergi Cardona and Ilias Akhomach in the 2024-25 La Liga match against Barça (1-5).
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